Rule Forty Two: The Self-Aggrandizing Website of Gavin Edwards

I spent most of last week in New York, celebrating the release of VJ with the mighty Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn. Thanks to the PowerHouse Arena in Dumbo, Barnes & Noble in Tribeca, and the Apple Store in Soho for hosting us, and to everyone who came out–it was a huge pleasure to see you all.

A number of people have been kind enough to write about the book. If you’re curious to see what people who aren’t me thought of VJ (I thought it was awesome, but I’m not exactly an impartial source), you could check out:

2 Comments on VJ Roundup

Props to Mark for this answer (and boo on Daily Beast for mistaking “AOR” for “A&R”):

“The people who were writing the channel—Bob Pittman as the head of it all—they were radio and record-label people. In 1981, there was still A&R radio, and that was rock radio. Rock radio didn’t play Michael Jackson and wouldn’t have played Michael Jackson even with Eddie Van Halen on guitar. But I also say in the book that J.J., who was Mr. Rock ‘n’ Roll, pointed out that we were playing, let’s say, Culture Club. Well what’s the difference between that and some R&B act except they were white? He pointed out that it’s the same music and yet one we play and one we don’t. That said, the reason we started playing it is not because the music was getting more popular but because the record labels were leaning on us and they owned our programming. They were leaning on us, and they were saying, ‘Look, we want these artists played on your channel.’”

I know they want to believe the “black music wasn’t AOR, it was genre not race” angle—but Mark’s answer (with an assist from J.J.) is a more complete answer, honestly. Even before “Billie Jean,” by late ’82, it became embarrassing that MTV would play dancey/post-disco British new wave but not actual R&B. There’s no “genre” excuse for that.